


Running with wolves

by GreyWardenCousland



Category: Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age - All Media Types, Dragon Age: Origins
Genre: Gen, Learning Magic, One Shot, Wolves, friends - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-09
Updated: 2018-12-09
Packaged: 2019-09-15 05:25:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,169
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16927311
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GreyWardenCousland/pseuds/GreyWardenCousland
Summary: This was a one-shot prompted by the lovely GingerBreton - thank you! Evie is my Surana from the last sacrifice fic. This is a bit rubbish because I struggled SO. HARD. But I did enjoy writing it, in a masochistic way.





	Running with wolves

The forest was fairly non-descript, and truth be told it would only qualify as a forest to the least pedantic of people. It wasn't big enough to show up on most maps, being more or less a clearing surrounded by enough trees to make it not be a field, but it had a few trees and a small creek; it did a respectable job of producing shade and generally doing what a respectable, growing forest was expected to do.

The only reason it may have had to stand out from all the other similar forests was currently found in the small clearing itself, and took the form of two young women facing each other.

Both were sitting down cross legged on the cool grass. The shorter one also wore an expression of intense frustration and slight panic.

'Breathe softly and focus, my friend,' Morrigan said, 'but do not think. Remember watching, remember their movements. Let the memory enfold you.'

Evie closed her eyes and tried hard not to think, which went about as well as could be expected. They had been practicing for a few hours each day, although the practice did not always take this form. For the last week they had tracked and watched a pack of wolves, with Morrigan taking point and shielding Evie from view with her quick magic and even sharper reflexes. The more experienced woman had insisted they do this before even considering more, and Evie had reluctantly agreed, not least to put off actually having to try the spell for as long as possible.

But now here they were, having left the main camp further down the road, stripped to her smalls in case a shift went bad and ruined her travel clothes, fingers itching to reach for the staff which was more than two feet away. Morrigan had insisted this needed to come from within her, that she use her own feelings as scaffolding for the spell rather than some manmade stick.

She sighed, much to her friend's annoyance.

'Tis not too late to turn back.' The voice was oh-so sweet, sweeter than honeyed rolls fresh out the oven. 'I am sure Alistair will have finished the stew by now.'

Evie cracked her eyes open enough to glare at her, then proceeded to stick her chin up and focus with renewed intensity, pretending she did not hear her friend's chuckle.

'When they moved,' Morrigan started in her lilting voice, 'were they thinking of moving? Or was survival what pushed them on? Did they not stalk through the forest as shadows, unseen and unheard?'

They had been gorgeous, their winter fur just come through, thick and warm looking. There was power in their movements, even as they stretched and played like pups. She frowned.

'It wasn't just survival,' she said softly, 'it was more than that. They were playing, with the pups but also with each other.'

Morrigan smiled, not that Evie could see her, lost in the memory as she was. Evie had come a long way since the quiet sliver of a girl Flemeth had saved atop the tower.

'Were they now?'

'Yes, they had eaten well and could relax. They weren't scared anymore, the cubs were safe with the elders and they were just playing.'

Softly, almost like the tendrils of a dream, Evie could feel magic surrounding her, bearing her friend's signature feel, as if Morrigan was allowing the spell to seep out towards her and guide the way, provide the template upon which she could build her own. Tentatively, she reached towards it and shivered. Another unseen smile tiled the corners of Morrigan's lips when Evie's eyebrows raised in surprise, but she continued to talk of the wolves they had been observing. They had looked warm, and soft, and played like puppies among themselves.

The spell formed almost without her knowledge, and Evie could feel it warm her against the morning chill. The shape inside of her felt large, yet in need of nurture; she thought of the wolves and fed it magic softly, like kindling to a flame. She was no longer talking, but Morrigan did not prompt her. The magic felt different than her usual spells, like reaching deep inside herself instead of trying to touch the world around her. It was a thing alive, not unlike her fire spells when she stopped trying to control them, and she suddenly wanted to wrap it around herself, delve within its warmth and softness. It felt grey, and musky, and deep, and rough, and warm. She could almost smell the damp earth of a burrow and see the green light filtered through the leaves of a forest much bigger than their little copse.

She had seen companionship among the wolves, likes and dislikes not dissimilar to their own little makeshift family. She thought briefly of the woman sat in front of her, her brave demeanour in the face of outright attacks on her character from those who would be her companions. She never once faltered, never once back down and protected her place in the pack with determination and skill. A sound escaped her throat and she did not even notice it.

It was warm now, as she contemplated her friend, and she stretched to release the muscles in her back. She stretched forward and she stretched outward, out through her skin, a sharp pain as her joints reformed and bones realigned, an itchiness as fur sprouted through her skin. She could not call out through lips stretched wide over her muzzle, but she stretched some more and shook as if to shake off stubborn branches from her coat.

Her eyes, when she opened them, were the same midnight blue. Everything seemed different, the colours muted but shapes much cleaner, sharper, in more focus. Scents filtered through the air all around, a dizzying array that made her yip and shake her tail, nearly throwing herself off balance at the unfamiliar weight.  She half-stumbled to Morrigan and pounced on her, front paws on her shoulder so that she could properly give her cheek a lick.

'Yes, yes,' the woman said, pushing at her muscular chest to escape her ministrations. 'Horrid creature, serves me right to teach you, does it not?'

She sounded annoyed but to Evie's ears the familiar fondness which they had nurtured throughout these last months shone through. She gave her a wolfy grin and pounced back, sitting on her hind and watching the witch. Evie felt like she could burst with pride in herself and had a sneaking suspicion Morrigan's own feelings towards her surpassed even that.

'Well,' Morrigan said, standing and brushing off dirt, 'I suppose we ought to give your new form some practice, should we not?'

The innocent comment also did little to fool Evie, especially with the twinkle in Morrigan's peculiar but beautiful eyes. She gave a huff, pretending not to understand that Alistair was about to experience firsthand just how fast two newly minted wolves could run back to camp.


End file.
